EQUIP, or Educational Quality Through Innovative Partnerships, is a new program from the U.S. Department of Education. The department will provide access to Title IV funds to chosen partners (both traditional and non-traditional), while waiving the rules about the use of content from other entities.

The goal of this experimental program is to allow traditional schools to lower educational costs and increase access by partnering with nontraditional providers, such as MOOCs or code academies or boot camps, by creating hybrid programs that are eligible for enrolled students to access financial aid.

Introductory PowerPoint slides created by the Department of Education are embedded below:

New letters from the U.S. Department of Education and the seven regional accreditors that make up the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions articulate a common framework for the assessment and approval of competency-based academic programs.

In addition to describing what, exactly, constitutes a direct assessment program — which has been an area of confusion for some — the department’s letter touches on the faculty role in competency-based programs, many of which are online only.